Preparations have begun to move the Confederate monument in Lowndes Co.

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Prep work begins on the next phase to remove the Confederate monument from the Lowndes County Courthouse.

Workers have put up orange fencing and done some dirt work around the statue.

These are the initial stages before any work can begin to dismantle the monument.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is requiring the county to catalog the work and have an archeologist on-site during the rebuilding process.

Work has already started on the site at Friendship Cemetery where the monument will be moved.

The price tag for the total project is nearly 80 thousand dollars.

No word on when the monument will be dismantled.